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State's payment to plan still up in air; DIA balks at $100M ante

As of Jan. 17, support for Gov. Rick Snyder's plan for $350 million in state funding to augment the $330 million committed so far by foundations was uncertain, as was the amount the DIA itself may be required to contribute.

Reports of a requirement that the DIA contribute $100 million over 20 years or $5 million a year to the plan surfaced late last week, an amount DIA Chairman Eugene Gargaro said isn't doable.

"Of course we want to participate and help; that's a given," he said. "But I'm not going to saddle the DIA with debt that will jeopardize its ability to function."

Gargaro said the museum already raises $12 million each year to supplement $23 million in millage revenue from Wayne, Oakland and Macomb counties for its annual budget, Gargaro said.

And the millage revenue isn't available for the fund. Per the agreements between the arts authorities in the three counties and the DIA, that revenue can only go to fund the museum's operations, and the museum must provide regular reports to the authorities on its use, he said.

Gargaro told Crain's that in exchange for a state contribution, the museum could relaunch the statewide outreach it provided in the 1990s when it was receiving $14 million a year from the state.

The museum loaned art to other cultural institutions around the state, took exhibitions statewide, provided conservation expertise to other museums and consulted on arts education programs until its state funding was cut in the late 1990s to early 2000s.